What Thrilling Survival Sunday Means for Premier League's American Popularity

You can't convince stubborn Americans who insist on despising soccer that the game is truly fantastic in one day.

But if you could, Sunday would have been that day.

Manchester City's two goals in stoppage time against QPR on Sunday to win the Premier League championship was the finest theater sports has to offer. After mustering only one goal in 90 minutes of play, and with a title hanging in the balance, Man City managed to score two goals in the last five minutes.

It was drama of the highest order. And if there is one thing I know Americans love, it is some high-stakes drama, the sort of drama that might open the minds of people who otherwise wouldn't give the sport a chance.

Of course, that was only one aspect in a thrilling day of soccer.

There was the other side of that championship coin, a Manchester United team that won yesterday and thought it had another title locked away. Coming into the day, the two Manchester teams were tied in points, but Man City had the advantage in goal differential.

For a while, it seemed Man United was going to get the win and City loss they needed to take the championship. Instead, they got only heartbreak.

There was Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle, all battling to finish in the top four to qualify for the Champions League tournament next season. Arsenal is in after finishing third in the league. Tottenham might be in as the fourth team unless Chelsea wins the Champions League trophy, in which case an automatic berth belongs to them.

Exhilarating stuff, especially after a long, hard-fought season of championship positioning.

Of course, maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree here. Perhaps none of this sounds particularly dramatic if you haven't followed the Premier League since August. Perhaps you should just watch and listen, instead.

As Americans, we've been rather blessed with some of the most exciting finishes the game of soccer has to offer in recent memory.

Who could forget about Landon Donovan saving the day?

And of course there was Abby Wambach providing what was perhaps the most incredible goal to save a game and tournament I think I've ever seen.

But here's the thing—none of these goals or moments means anything if you don't buy into the drama that preceded them, if you don't open your mind to a different game and what that game has to offer.

I can already imagine people griping about the fact that the Premier League doesn't have a playoff system, or how it's stupid to care so much about qualifying for some silly little tournament when your team didn't win the league title.

But if you accept the game—and in this instance, the Premier League—for what it is, Sunday was one of the most enriching and enthralling sports experiences you could possibly have.

It was akin to the 2004 Red Sox overcoming a 3-0 series deficit to the Yankees in the ALCS and eventually winning the World Series. It was as improbable as Christian Laettner's shot. The day on the whole was reticent of baseball's final day of the regular season last year, only better.

And that's why it was such an important moment and day for the future of soccer in this country. Because if Americans on the fence about the game saw that moment and the reaction to it on Twitter or SportsCenter, maybe they'll decide to give the sport a chance.

Maybe all of the drama of Sunday will be enough to convince them to open their minds to a new sporting experience.

I've grown to truly enjoy soccer over the years, but this season, I decided to seriously follow the Premier League and lend my support to Arsenal. Yesterday, that investment of my time paid off tenfold.

Not all Survival Sundays, as they call the last day of the season, will be like the one yesterday. It was one of the finest final days the league has ever seen.

But at a time when soccer seems to be gaining major steam in this country, when major players in the sports world like ESPN and Fox are investing more money into broadcasting the game, yesterday's Survival Sunday couldn't have come at a better time.

Here's to hoping it will open more minds and hearts in America to the game beloved by so much of the world around. Sunday was just further proof that us Americans have long been wrong about the original football.

Hit me up on Twitter—my tweets never give up in stoppage time.